Non-commuters losing out on up to £68,000 by owning a property near a train station

Non-commuters could be sitting on a gold mine by living in a town with a train station. They could sell their house and move to an equivalent sized property in a nearby town without a train station and gain up to 40% of the value of their property, according to new research from leading online agent eMoov.co.uk.

The research reveals that property prices in adjacent towns without a train station are on average 12% cheaper than the towns with a train station. That’s over £20,000 difference when purchasing a property worth the UK average of £172,069.1

In some cases, like in Shropshire the average difference between the adjacent towns Market Drayton and Whitchurch (which has a train station) reaches more than two fifths of a property’s value: £68,827 of the average UK house price.

Russell Quirk, CEO of online estate eMoov.co.uk, said: “Non commuters should think carefully about living in a town that happens to have a nearby rail station, it’s wasted capital. Our research provides compelling evidence that living somewhere that is not well served by a train station results in significantly lower prices.”

Areas like Watford and Birmingham are expected to become big commuter towns with the incoming extension of the Metropolitan line and the faster HS2 trains. The announcements of these service improvements and extensions alone significantly increased property prices up. In the past year house prices in Watford increased £21,581, 8.6%.2

Quirk added: “With transport announcements increasing prices, now is the perfect time for non-commuters in these new commuter towns to sell. They could upgrade for no additional cost or release some funds for other interests.

Another consideration for non-commuters is how the new transport links will influence the local community during the week – it could become non-existent, like a ghost town. Moving to a community that doesn’t disappear to the nearest town or city during the week would fuel a much livelier local economy.”